Eric, Jon, Mark and Ben
So I went to the tsunami benefit concert at Great American last night. Four men and their guitars. Usually I’ll go to a concert so I’ll miss one or more of the opening acts. Here is perhaps the first concert where I wanted to see everyone that was playing.
First up was Eric Bachmann (Bacchman? Bachman? I’ve seen all these spellings on the internet) of Archers of Loaf and the Crooked Fingers. He fingerpicked a classical guitar and sang in a somewhat strained voice that bears some resemblence to his voice on the Archers records. From the first song, I was impressed. It was nothing like the Archers of Loaf. It was gorgeous, sad music with more than a nod to traditional American music with songs like “Death Train.” If I’d heard any of the Crooked Fingers or Barry Black (which I just found out is his solo project), I would have been more prepared for his “new” style (the Archers of Loaf haven’t done anything since like 1997). I’ll have to check them out now and play them on my show.
Next: Jonathan Richman. I was very familiar with the name and familiar with a couple of his songs, but I don’t know very much about him. I know he was in Something about Mary. And apparently he was the front man for the Modern Lovers. Live, he’s quirky and goofy. He moves his body and plays his classical guitar without a strap (just sort of holding it against his body). He does this goofy bow at the end of a song that reminds me of a someone on the Ed Sullivan show. Sometimes he basically fingerpicks and sometimes he almost plays in a flamenco style. He sang in Spanish, Italian, French and English. He would interject strange things in his songs (“the English part!” before a bunch of “oohs-ahhs” or “guitar!” before a guitar solo). I had a huge grin on my face the whole time because he’s just so entertaining to watch.
Mark Kozelek of Red House Painters (who were active 1992-2000ish) and Sun Kil Moon (the last year or so). I was really excited to see him solo. I’d heard a lot of the RHP and SKM but his solo stuff is what I like best. He came out and asked the fairly young crowd “So when does the school bus come to get you guys?” He also repeated referred to Ben Gibbard as “the guy from the post office.” Then he started playing. Oh my gosh. I don’t know if there could be a better combination of voice, guitar style and songwriting ability. He could really do no wrong solo; he could sing about killing little babies and I would probably think it was the prettiest song ever. He did a “funny” song, as he put it: a cover of “Neverending Math Equation” by Modest Mouse. Done in Kozelek’s style it’s not quite the same.
The man all the girls were screaming for: Ben Gibbard. Sporting an unkempt beard, glasses and scruffy hair, he was definitely the crowd favorite. And he was definitely really good, but I don’t think the best of the night. He opened with a cover the of Archers of Loaf song “Web in Front”. He also covered the Monkey’s song “Look Out (Here Comes Tomorrow)” later in the set. He did a number of solid versions of Death Cab for Cutie and Postal Service songs, including, of course, “Such Great Heights” (which he called a cover of a song he wrote) but also “the Dream of Evan and Chan” (technically a DNTEL song). He said he was intimidated playing guitar after the previous three “of the best guitar players I’ve seen.”
Overall, it was probably the best acoustic concert I’ve seen.
January 31st, 2005 at 6:40 pm
Bachman, Richman, Kozelek, Gibbard
Anyone got a review of the tsunami benefit at Great American Music Hall this past weekend? Apparently Mark Kozalek covered Modest Mouse, Ben Gibbard covered Archers Of Loaf, and Jonathon Richman acted goofy. If you’ve got MP3s, let us hear!…
January 31st, 2005 at 7:00 pm
Prepare to have your mind blown…
I took pictures and full-on video from the show.
Enjoy. The show was unfreakin believable.
http://www.shundor.com/clog/archives/2005/01/tsunami_benefit.html
January 31st, 2005 at 10:12 pm
Speaking of Kozelek singing about killing little babies, doesn’t he sing “I buried my first victim when I was 19” on the first song of the SKM album? Or am I mishearing that? That line always freaked me out. I wonder if he’s using “buried” literally or figuratively. Either way, it’s kind of scary.
Any AC/DC? “You Ain’t Got a Hold of Me” kills.
February 1st, 2005 at 10:25 am
Just Like Honey
Oh yeah, it’s on! Mark those calendars, yo. Thanks to The Best Janelle for the original photo! Stay classy College Park. The Knicks finished January 2-13, their worst month ever. Maybe that led to this reported exchange between Starbury…
February 1st, 2005 at 10:35 am
I think that is the line in “Glenn Tipton”. I’m pretty sure it’s the narrator talking and not Kozelek himself.
He didn’t play any AC/DC covers that I know of. I know the ones on Rock N Roll Singer, including “You Ain’t Got a Hold of Me,” and I would have recognized them.
February 2nd, 2005 at 8:40 pm
Yeah, it’s “Glenn Tipton.”
Narrator or not, it’s a creepy line. Effective, certainly, and it totally changes the entire tone of the song. Before that, it’s somewhat sentimental and “oh what a loser i am.” After the “buried” part, whether sexual or murderous, it becomes (obviously) much darker — whether it’s Kozelek or the narrator.
August 29th, 2006 at 12:54 am
[…] Jonathan Richman: The last time I saw him was also a benefit show (and also with Mark Kozelek). He’s still as absolutely entertaining as always. He’ll move his hips to the music while playing Spanish-influenced guitar and singing in Italian while providing running translation in English or making off-handed comments. And then he’ll do an odd stage bow (or think of it as a figure skater at the end of a routine). I had a big smile on my face the whole time. I’m not overly familiar with his music but he closed with “Not So Much to be Loved as to Love.” […]
October 2nd, 2006 at 12:21 am
[…] (Incidentally, benefit concerts are awesome.) […]
April 28th, 2007 at 7:24 pm
[…] On now onto the music. I’d seen Jonathan Richman before. He’s really quirky live and has a lot of charisma and stage presence, so I was really curious how it’d end up when these things were taken away. The set up was Jonathan on (nylon string) guitar and pump organ. Other players were two hand bell players, a trumpet/ baritone player, a bass clarinet/ saxophone/ flute player, a violinist and a cellist. I thought their accompaniment was really good and all the players were very talented. It worked really well with the movie. The main characters had motifs and there were parts were these two motifs were almost colliding when two characters were talking or arguing. A daring move was during certain particularly intense moments in the movie there they left it completely silent; I think it paid off. […]
April 29th, 2007 at 9:18 pm
[…] On now onto the music. I’d seen Jonathan Richman before. He’s really quirky live and has a lot of charisma and stage presence, so I was really curious how it’d end up when these things were taken away. The set up was Jonathan on (nylon string) guitar and pump organ. Other players were two hand bell players, a trumpet/ baritone player, a bass clarinet/ saxophone/ flute player, a violinist and a cellist. I thought their accompaniment was really good and all the players were very talented. It worked really well with the movie. The main characters had motifs and there were parts were these two motifs were almost colliding when two characters were talking or arguing. A daring move was during certain particularly intense moments in the movie there they left it completely silent; I think it paid off. […]
May 17th, 2008 at 9:31 am
[…] friends that I’ve seen play together and hang out (in SF) before. The interview ends up being pretty interesting. Here’s a taste: […]